Lesson Plans

Lesson Plan: Family, Culture, and Traditions Interview
This single lesson plan prepares students for an oral history interview with a family or community member about culture and traditions.


Lesson Plan: Oral History Found Poem
This two-day lesson plan guides students through creating a sensory, details-focused found poem using an oral history interview as source material.


Beginning Again: Stories of Movement and Migration in Appalachia Curriculum
These lessons explore oral histories that examine the complexities of why people leave, why people stay, and and the systems that interact with individual choice. The curriculum is rooted in an Ethnic Studies framework that questions dominant narratives and promotes critical thinking around not only the Appalachian region, but migration and displacement in general.


How We Go Home: Voices from Indigenous North America Curriculum
The lessons use oral history to promote a nuanced understanding of Indigenous communities and settler colonialism.


Solito, Solita: Crossing Borders with Youth Refugees From Central America Curriculum
While confronting the impacts of immigration policies and harsh realities of the day-to-day experiences of youth refugees, these lessons also highlight the role of hope, community, and resilience. The lessons are culturally relevant for students who have experienced migration, as well as students encountering these issues for the first time.


Mi María: Surviving the Storm | Voices from Puerto Rico Curriculum
The lessons reflect an Ethnic Studies framework and invite teachers and students to form a nuanced, empathy-based understanding of the issues facing Puerto Ricans today, and the social, cultural, and historical forces that inform their experiences.


Chasing the Harvest: Migrant Workers in California Agriculture Curriculum
The lessons in this unit explore oral history narratives from the men, women, and children working in California’s fields who grow and harvest the food many Americans eat every day.


Six by Ten: Stories From Solitary Curriculum
These lessons use the powerful narratives from Six by Ten: Stories from Solitary to support teachers and students in forming a deeper understanding of solitary confinement, mass incarceration, and the criminal justice system.